Currently, an electrical connector is usually adopted to electrically connect a chip module to a circuit board in the industry. For example, an electrical connector is disclosed in Chinese Patent CN200320117157.X, which includes an insulating body, a retaining member, a pressing plate, and a lever. A receiving area is disposed on the insulating body. Receiving slots for receiving conductive terminals are provided inside the receiving area. Each conductive terminal is provided with an elastic contact portion. The elastic contact portion extends from the receiving area. A bearing surface for supporting the chip module is disposed at the periphery of the receiving area. The retaining member is framed at the circumference of the insulating body. The pressing plate is pivotally connected to one end of the retaining member in a rotatable manner. A through hole is provided at the central position of the pressing plate. Two side edges of the through hole respectively extend downward to form two arc-shaped transitional portions. Each transitional portion is depressed downward at the center to form a pressing point. The lever is pivotally connected to the other end of the retaining member, and capable of pressing against the pressing plate on the insulating body. During use, the pressing plate is first rotated to an ON position. The chip module is installed on the insulating body, and the pressing plate is then rotated to cover the pressing plate on the insulating body. Eventually the lever is moved to make the pressing plate retained by the retaining member, so that the pressing point of the pressing plate applies a force on the chip module to make the chip module and the conductive terminals contact electrically. In the related, to further enhance the support for the chip module, support blocks are usually disposed at separation bars of the receiving slots of the conductive terminals to enhance the support for the chip module and reduce the elastic weariness of the conductive terminals.
However, with the development of technologies, a higher requirement is raised for a function capable of processing increasingly large amount of data, so that the number of contacts of the chip module increases accordingly, resulting in an enlarged area of the chip module and denser arrangement of the contacts. Therefore, the bearing area for installing the insulating body of the chip module increases accordingly and the arrangement of the terminals disposed on the insulating body also becomes denser. The structure of an existing connector has the following deficiencies:
1, When the pressing plate is retained by the retaining member, a single pressing point may easily cause the force-receiving point of the chip module to move to one end, resulting in inclination or displacement of the chip module, such that the electrical contact between the chip module and the conductive terminals becomes unstable.
2, As the area of the chip module increases, the magnitude and direction of the force applied on the chip module and the force-receiving area of the chip module are all changed. If the pressing point is simply disposed at the center of the transitional portion of the pressing plate to press against the chip module, the force applied on the chip module easily becomes uneven to cause warps and deformations, so that a part of the terminals fail to have reliable electrical contact with the chip module.
3. As the area of the insulating body increases and the arrangement of the terminal receiving slots becomes denser, it is more difficult to dispose the support block on the separation bar between the adjacent terminal receiving slots, and the space between the adjacent terminal receiving slots is already insufficient to dispose a support block capable of bearing a chip module with a larger area, While the support is only provided by the bearing surface at the periphery of the receiving area of the insulating body and the elastic contact portions of the terminals, elastic weariness or crushing deformation may easily occur to a part of the terminals, and thereby affect the electrical connection between the terminals and the chip module.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.